1. General information about
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina
(B&H)
is located
in southeastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula; it has borders with Croatia,
Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rich cultural and political
history is interwoven with periods of independence and, alternately, incorporation
into great empires. After the period of the Bosnian kingdom, from the fifteenth
century to the nineteenth century, B&H became part of the Ottoman Empire. It
was annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1878, remaining under it until
1914. After the Second World War, together with the republics of Slovenia,
Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia and the two Autonomous Provinces Kosovo
and Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a socialist republic. Together,
these republics formed the ex Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (followed shortly thereafter by two
other republics—Slovenia and Croatia) declared its independence again in 1992
when it was confirmed as a sovereign and independent state by the United
Nations. Unfortunately, independence meant awful war and destruction which
lasted for four years and which ended with the Dayton Peace Accord agreed upon in
Dayton, Ohio in 1995, and officially signed in Paris in 1995. This war,
together with the genocide and the aggression it produced, introduced a modern democratic
world society as well as legal terms such as crimes against civilians, ethnic
cleansing and massive rapes. (More information about crimes committed in the former
Yugoslavia and related case materials can be found at the web site of the
International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
.)

Since Dayton Peace Accord brought significant
transformations regarding the state organization, numerous scholar papers and
publications have been written with the aim to define it. These efforts follow
different lines, on the one side there are claims that B&H is unitary
decentralized state, on the other side some argue in favor of federal state.
However, these discussions go beyond the scope of this article, and here will
be elaborated just plain facts needed for understanding of the existence of
different legal information sources.

It is very difficult to give precise information about the
population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, considering that the last pre-war official
census was conducted in 1991 and the result was 4,377,033. Estimations from 30
June 2011 by the
Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
are 3.839.737.
The situation becomes even more complicated when one considers the great number
of people killed during the war along with the number of refugees, internally
displaced and disappeared persons. Although almost 20 years passed since Dayton
Peace Accord had been signed, many families are still looking for their beloved
ones to be found, exhumed, identified and buried with dignity. Long-lasting debate
regarding official census reached its peak, since census was held between 1-15
October 2013. At the moment preliminary results of the census for inhabited
places in entities and district are
available
.

Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs are major ethnic groups in
B&H and among national minorities the Roma population is the largest;
certain number of population does not identify with any ethnic group and they
are referred to as others. More precise information regarding the population
will be known with final results of the previously mentioned census. The languages
in official use are Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian. Cyrillic and Latin script
are used. Currency is BAM / KM, Bosnian mark or convertible mark. The capital
city of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Sarajevo, with approximately 500.000
citizens.

2. State organization

The state organization of Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely
complex. It was decided according to the Dayton Peace Accord and it respects
ethnic lines which were established during the war. The main part of this
article deals with legal information sources brought together on the state
level; however, it is necessary for legal researcher to be introduced to other
levels of administration, since many laws are initiated on entities levels or
cantonal levels before they are even discussed by the state parliament. It is
important to bear in mind that some issues are under the competence of lower
levels of administration. This, of course, introduces a huge legal discrepancy
into the Bosnian legal system.

Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two entities and one
district: Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine—F BiH (Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina), Republika Srpska—RS and District Brčko.

2.1 Entities

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a compound
entity, divided into 10 cantons.

There is the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which prescribes that legislative authority in F B&H resides
with the Parliament, which consists of the House of Representatives and the
House of People. Laws and decisions adopted by the Parliament of F B&H, as
well as the text of federal Constitution, can be found on the official web site
of the
Parliament of F BiH
, or in the official gazette
Službene
novine
Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine
which is published by
Službeni list
BiH
. Beside basic text of the Constitution, it is important to pay
attention to its Anex and numerous amendments. Anex cites international human
rights instruments, while amendments have been brought as a part of necessary
reforms. The executive authority of FBiH is comprised of the government,
which includes a president, vice-presidents and ministers.

Republika Srpska (RS) is the second of the two entities
mentioned above. It also has a constitution –
Constitution of Republika Srpska
,
which has been
changed and amended with 121 amendments. Legislative authority in the Republika
Srpska rests with the National Assembly and the Council of Peoples. Laws and
regulations brought by the National Assembly are published in the official
gazette,
Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske
; the official site of
the
National Assembly
might also be helpful in this regard. Executive
authority in the Republika Srpska resides with the Government of RS, which is comprised
of a president, vice-presidents and ministers.

2.2 Cantons

As mentioned above, the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina is divided into ten administrative units, otherwise known as cantons.
All cantons have their constitutions, which are based on the federal constitution,
along with legislative and executive authority. Cantonal laws are published in
the official gazettes of each canton:

2.3 Brčko District

Brčko District is a special administrative unit, according
to the final award of the Arbitration Tribunal for Dispute
over the Inter-Entity Boundary Line in Brčko Area
. Statute
of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (an English language version of
the statute is available
here
) explains regulates the legislative,
executive and judicial authorities of the district. Finally, in 2009
Amendment 1
to the Constitution of
B&H had been brought. This Amendment defines Brčko District as a local
self-governance unit that is “subject to the responsibilities of the
institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Most of the laws and regulations of
Brčko District can be found on the
district’s web page
, or in the official
gazette published by the Assembly of Brčko District—
Službeni glasnik Brčko
Distrikta
.

Before the 1992-1995 war, B&H was not organized in the
manner described above, which means that in the past fifteen years the state has
had to accept and to apply an administrative apparatus very different from what
we could consider to be its traditional model. B&H presents a genuine exceptionality
in terms of its constitutional-legal frame, all while being home to thirteen valid
constitutions (cantons, entities, state) plus previously mentioned Statute of
the Brčko District. Although there is the best intention of this article to
ease search for legal and related information, it is not simple to do that for
researchers who are not familiar with languages in official use in B&H,
since official translations of laws and other documents and even web pages of
the institutions usually don’t provide translations of their content into
English language.

3. Legal and executive authority

Besides the general text, which is composed of eleven
articles, the General Peace Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Peace
Accord) contains eleven annexes, by which the basic principles of the various
aspects of the legal and state system of Bosnia and Herzegovina were founded.

The bases for the constitutional and general legal and
state system of Bosnia and Herzegovina were established by the Constitution of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, given in Anex 4 of Dayton Peace Accord. Therefore, one
of the specificities of this Constitution is that it was brought as a part of
peace agreement. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a wide range of
authorities given to the entities, while leaving those authorities which are
vitally important to the functioning of an internationally recognized state to
the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitutions of the entities
have to be adapted in accordance with this Constitution and the system of
government at the national level, according to the competencies stated by this
constitution.

The original language version, the English language version,
of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is available, among other
sources, on the web site of the
Constitutional Court of BH
.

3.1 Parliamentary assembly

The Parliamentary assembly of B&H is comprised of two
chambers: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. The
legislative authority requires that legislative decisions gain the approval of both
chambers. All laws brought forward by the Parliamentary assembly of B&H are
published in the official gazette,
Službeni glasnik Bosne i Hercegovine
,
while international agreements are published in the official gazette
Službeni
glasnik Bosne i Hercegovine
–
međunarodni ugovori
. Subscriptions to
these official gazettes, hard copy and online database, are available via
Službeni list
B&H
.

One can find decisions and laws which are adopted or are in
parliamentary procedure on the
Parliament’s web site
, unfortunately
search and results are given only in the languages of B&H.

It is of great importance for legal researchers to know
that the laws and regulations of different law branches cannot be found in
organized codes, as is possible in other European countries (e.g. Austria,
Germany, France, Switzerland etc.). There have been a few collections of
B&H laws published as special publications—but they are not consolidated codes
and one can never use them completely, considering that potential amendments
might exist.

One must bear in mind that the basic texts of some B&H
laws go back to the period of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
when the nation remained a part of Yugoslavia. Some of these laws have been amended
in recent times, during which Bosnia and Herzegovina has existed as an independent
country. Until 2011 it was possible to find a certain law or regulation and to
follow its basic text along with the levels on which it has been brought
forward (state, entities, cantons) by using the annual official publication
Pravni
vodič
(Legal guide).
Pravni vodič
was a register of laws and
regulations which contains an index with subject terms in alphabetical order.
After one had found a desired term, one could retrieve all needed information
regarding the laws and regulations in question.
Pravni vodič
was
published by Službeni list B&H as well. Unfortunately, this register has
not being published anymore. However, one could use a Registar propisa Bosne i
Hercegovine (Register of the Regulations of B&H). This publication is annually
published by company Fineks. It covers all levels, traces basic text and
potential amendments and corrigenda. Online source of regulations regarding
certain fields close to business: taxes, customs, labor law, securities, trade,
tourism etc. is published by company Revicon.

3.2 Presidency and Council of
Ministers

Complex state organization and multiethnic composition of
population reflect on state institutions. The Presidency of Bosnia and
Herzegovina is collective head of the state and has three members from three
constitutional nations: one Bosniak and one Croat—both of whom are directly
elected from the territory of the Federation, and one Serb directly elected
from the territory of the Republika Srpska. This makes impossible for members
of other ethnic groups to be nominated and elected for Presidency and House of
Peoples, which
European Court of Human Rights
in its
judgment in the now well known case
Sejdić & Finci v. B&H
found
discriminatory. Although judgment was pronounced in 2009, it has still not been
implemented. On the one side there are continuous political and scholar debates
regarding the manner of the implementation and constitutional reforms, and on
the other side stands the fact one of the potential sanctions might be suspension
of B&H membership in the Council of Europe.

Since 1998, in accordance with the
Constitution and the Rules of Procedure, every eight months the Chair of the
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates.
But the Presidency’s mandate as such lasts for four
years (during which they have rotations every eight months). Since general
elections held in October 2010 current members of presidency are: Bakir
Izetbegović, Željko Komšić and Nebojša Radmanović. More information regarding
the Presidency can be found in English
here
.
However, in 2014 new elections will be held.

The Presidency nominates the Chair of the Council of
Ministers, who takes office upon the approval of the House of Representatives. The
Chair nominates a Foreign Minister, a Minister for Foreign Trade and other ministers
who take office upon the approval of the House of Representatives. Together,
the chair and the ministries constitute the Council of Ministries with
responsibility for carrying out the policies and decisions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina in fields such as foreign affairs, monetary policies, and
international and inter-entity criminal law enforcement. All further
information about the
Council of Ministers
can be found on its
official web site.

One of the most relevant and, at the same time, ambivalent
institutions in the B&H political and administrative organization is the High
Representative. The High Representative is a person
designated
to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the Peace Agreement on
behalf of the international community. He is also tasked with coordinating the
activities of the civilian organizations and agencies operating in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The mandate of the High Representative is set out in
Annex 10
of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
It declares the High Representative the final authority charged with interpreting
the agreement on the civilian implementation of the peace settlement. The Peace
Implementation Council (PIC), a group of 55 countries and international
organizations that sponsor and direct the peace implementation process, has
subsequently elaborated on his mandate. The Steering Board of the PIC nominates
the High Representative. The United Nations Security Council, which approved
the Dayton Peace Agreement and the deployment of international troops in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, then endorses the nomination. All that has been previously stated
about the High Representative have been official explanations regarding his
service as written in Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
In case one would like to access more information regarding
the
OHR
,
their web site is recommended. This site is also suggested for those seeking
out
decisions
made by the OHR’s, which are mainly reached on the
following subjects: state symbols, state level matters and constitutional
issues, the economic field, judicial reform, removals and suspensions from
office, war crimes, property laws, return of displaced persons and refugees,
etc.

The presence of the European Union
in Bosnia and Herzegovina is strongly supported by the establishment of the
Delegation of the European Union
to Bosnia and Herzegovina & European Union Special Representative
,
whose mandate includes support for the Stabilisation and Association process,
which moves countries to the European Union. The EU Special Representative
reports to the Council of the European Union. Current Special Representative,
Peter Sørensen is appointed with Council Decision 2011/426/CFSP of 18 July 2011
. His mandate lasts from 1 September 2011 to 30 June 2015. On 16 June 2008,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union signed the Stabilization and
Association Agreement. More information and documents regarding the European
integrations one could find on the web page of
﻿
the
Directorate for European Integration
,
whose role is to coordinate european integration process at state level and
between the state institutions and entities.

4. Courts

B&H is home to courts of different jurisdictions and competencies.
The least complicated way to explain them might be found by referring to the following
scheme:

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

1) Court of B&H

2) Constitutional court of Bosnia
and Herzegovina

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

1) Supreme Court of FB&H

2) Cantonal Courts

3) Municipality Courts

Republika Srpska:

1) Supreme Court of RS

2) District Courts

3) Basic courts

Both entities have Constitutional Courts (Constitutional
Court of Federation of B&H and Constitutional Court of Republika
Srpska)

Brčko District :

1) Appeals Court

2) Basic Court

In RS there are also commercial district and high
commercial courts. It is worth noting one fact, which is subject of many
discussions among legal experts. There is no Supreme Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the Council of
Europe and its citizens may approach to its bodies including the European Court
of Human Rights.

Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina
prosecutes suspected/accused of the most serious criminal offences such as war
crimes and organized crimes. Prosecutorial system includes: Prosecutor's
Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prosecutor’s Office of Brčko District, 2
entity offices, 10 cantonal offices in FB&H and 5 district offices in RS, more
detailed information are available at
Judicial portal of B&H
, but not all
content is available in English.

Beside
Office of Attorney General of B&H
, there are attorney
generals on lower levels. One of the main tasks of the Office of Attorney
General of B&H is to provide legal advices and to represent B&H (its
institutions, agencies etc.) before all bodies in country, before international
and foreign courts and organs.

Important role in human rights protection conferred to the
Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of B&H
,
who deals, as it is stated on its web page “with protection of rights of
natural persons and legal entities in accordance with the Constitution of BiH
and international human rights instruments appended thereto.” In case of
discrimination institution issues recommendations to competent organs and it
also advises citizens regarding the adequate legal remedies and institutions
they should address.

The Court of B&H was established according to the Law
on the Court of B&H, which was promulgated on 12 November 2000 by the High
Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina and adopted by the Parliament of
Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 July 2002 and. It was established in order to
provide judicial protection in those matters which, under the B&H
Constitution, fall under state jurisdiction, such as: the fight against
terrorism, war crimes, human trafficking and organized and economic crimes. Its
competences are related to
criminal
,
administrative and
appellate
jurisdictions. The Court of B&H has a criminal
department, an administrative department and an appellate department. Many
details regarding the Court’s establishment, structure and competences can be
found in the
Brochure of the Court of B&H
.
Numerous laws and their amendments can be obtained in
English from the Court’s website, including the official consolidated version
of the
Law on the Court of B&H
(later amendments
and corrigendum published later are listed separately, the
Criminal Code of B&H
(corrigendum
and amendments are listed separately, and
unofficial consolidated version
in
English as well), the
Criminal Procedure Code of B&H
(as
well as
unofficial consolidated version
in
English), the unofficial consolidated version of the
Law on the transfer of cases from the ICTY to the
Prosecutor’s Office of B&H and the use of evidence collected by ICTY in
proceedings before the courts in B&H
etc. Some laws listed on
this page are firstly promulgated by the decisions of High Representative and
these decisions are available here as well. Cases materials of the Court of
B&H in English language are available at the Court’s web page; unfortunately
Court practice issues are available only in languages of B&H.

The history of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia
and Herzegovina can be traced to its initial establishment on 15 February 1964.
Today, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Annex 4. of Dayton Peace Agreement)
elaborates in its preamble certain basic normative principles, such as respect
for human dignity, liberty and equality; respect for peace, justice, tolerance,
and reconciliation; and respect for democratic governmental institutions and
fair procedures, all of which together represent the best means for producing
peaceful relations within a pluralistic society. In addition, Article II not
only contains a comprehensive catalogue of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, it also declares the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols to be directly applicable in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, it is provided that the Convention shall have
priority over all other laws.

It is clear that the Constitutional Court of
B&H should protect the constitutionality of the state along with the human
rights and fundamental freedoms of both the citizens of B&H and those of
all other nations. To appeal to the Constitutional Court of B&H, it is not
necessary that the appellant be a citizen of B&H. More general information,
along with information regarding the organization of and decisions reached by the
constitutional court, can be found on its
web site
.

There were some initiatives regarding
creation of free access, integral legal database which would incorporate laws
brought by different levels including even their unofficial English
translations. Unfortunately, these projects didn’t survive. Today, one can only
point to previously mentioned official publishers whose resources are not free
of charge. There are also efforts of the individuals and networks of
individuals to collect and dispose legal materials online via portals or
personal web pages, but having in mind criteria of reliability, it would be
recommendable to turn to publishers of official gazettes.

5.
Legal Education in B&H

Completing a legal education in B&H takes four years.
After finishing law school, one is conferred a university degree and the title
of “BA in Law”. One of the first conditions that graduate lawyers need to
fulfill in order to perform certain legal duties is to pass a professional
exam. The number of years which one must spend working in legal affairs before being
able to take this exam depends on where the required experience has been gained.
For example, a person who worked for two years in a court or public attorney’s office,
prosecution authorities’ office, or lawyers’ office is entitled to apply for
said professional exam. When this exam is passed, one should gain at least two
years of working experience in certain legal affairs in order to apply for the bar
exam, which is organized by the entity lawyers associations,
Lawyers Association
of FB&H
or Lawyers Association of RS which also keep their
Register books. Lawyers registered in these Register books can represent parties
in their legal affairs.

Judges and prosecutors have to fulfill the previously
mentioned conditions regarding university education and professional examination,
while other specific conditions—like the number of years spent in practice—are
different. Their nomination is done by the
High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of B&H
-HJPC
(except for Constitutional Courts). Law on High Judicial and Prosecutorial
Council and other information about the council are available on its
web site
.

The recently implemented service of the notary public is similarly
regulated by entity laws. A university education, coupled with the successful
passing of a professional exam and at least five years of working experience,
are needed if one wants to apply for a notary exam. Different requirements
regarding working experience are needed for persons who worked as public notary
assistants. This article presents the main educational platform regarding some
legal professions, but there also exist a set of other specific requirements
whose presentation would take great space. Therefore, it won’t be dealt with here.
Specific rules and procedures also exist regarding the nomination and the
decision of how many notary publics are needed for a certain territory.

5.1 Law Faculties

Almost
every sizeable city in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a law school, which was not
the case before 1992. There are law schools in: Sarajevo, Zenica, Tuzla, Bihać,
Mostar (“Univerzitet Džemal Bijedić), Mostar (Sveučilište u Mostaru), Banja
Luka, East Sarajevo (Pale). Recently one could track growing number of private
universities with different faculties, some of them provide legal studies.
Fragmentation and huge number of the high education institutions is recognized
as phenomenon in the whole region. Its impact on the quality of education in
general is disputable.

Faculty
of Law of the University in Sarajevo, the capital city, has the greatest
tradition and represents one of the oldest faculties in the country, whose
noble work couldn’t be stopped even by aggressor’s shells fired between
1992-1995. The
Law School in Sarajevo
was founded on August 20, 1946. From
that period to the present, it offers undergraduate studies, postgraduate
studies, specialized and doctoral studies.

(Building
of the Rectorate of the University and the Law School in Sarajevo)

According
to the reform of high education and the postulates of the Bologna Declaration, the
Law School in Sarajevo adopted a new curriculum. The Law School has five chairs:

Chair
for state and international public law;

Chair
for civil law;

Chair
for criminal law;

Chair
for economic science; and,

Chair
for legal history and comparative law.

Each
department offers obligatory and elective subjects. In order to accommodate the
law students with legal practice and not only theory, students have the
opportunity to participate in legal clinics and workshops. In the frame of its
publishing activities, the Law School or the Law Faculty from Sarajevo
publishes textbooks, legal books, collections of papers (mainly based on round
tables with actual legal topics) and two periodical publications:

5.2 Centers for
Judicial and Prosecutorial Training

There are two Centers for Judicial and Prosecutorial
Training in B&H; located in Sarajevo and Banja Luka.

The object of the Centers is to ensure, under the
supervision of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, that training programs for judges and prosecutors are designed and
implemented in light of the main requirements established for the exercise of
judicial and prosecutorial duties, such as competence and impartiality. Education
provided by both centers follows the principles of life-long learning as well.
Both centers provide education for judges and prosecutors and they are not
obliged to educate other professionals, although they can provide certain forms
of education for others as well. Annual minimum of education for judges and
prosecutors is determined by High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Centers issue certificates regarding the fulfillment of annual
minimum of education for judges and prosecutors.

The same destiny caught, among many others, the
Library of the
Oriental Institute
and fond of one of the oldest libraries in the
country,
Gazi Husrev Bey’s Library
(1537) was
relocated for safety reasons. These libraries were not only temples of the word,
but of architecture as well. The National and University Library was settled in
the building of the old city hall, which had been built in the period between
1892
through 1894, and officially inaugurated for use in 1896. After World War II,
the National and University Library was founded (1945) and located in this
building; however, in light of the destruction which it met, the building is currently
in the very final phase of the reconstruction. It is difficult to give precise
information addressing what we managed to save from our collections in an
article of this kind. That said, the truth is that the complete information
infrastructure was destroyed.

One could trace interesting trends in past few years.
Buildings of destroyed libraries are being reconstructed. Reconstruction of the
Building of the City Hall where National and University Library was located is
in its final phase and it should be open in the end of April 2014. Most
probably reconstructed building will have different purposes; they will host
city government, collections of old and rare books, exhibition halls etc.

Ceremonious opening of the new building of
Gazi Husrev Bey’s Library took place on January 15, 2014. Building
of a completely new University Library of the University in Sarajevo is planed.
At the same time,
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
,
which had been founded in 1888, was closed in 2012 due political reasons which
caused lack of financing in past twenty years. Same destiny threatens six
institutions of culture more, among which is
National and University Library of B&H
as well. Now one could say that vital cultural institutions have been dealing
with difficulties over decades.

In spite of the tragedy it met and insecure present it
faces, the
National
and University Library
has been turned to future use and does its
best to serve the needs of its clients. It carries the load of the modernization
of B&H’s library system; it organizes trainings for librarians, researchers
and others; it conducts research programs; and it pursues its publishing
activities. The Journal Bosniaca is one of the most important periodicals
published by the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The application of COBISS (Co-operative Online Bibliographic
System & Services) is among the efforts launched to support the B&H information
and library system. This system is developed and owned by the Institute of
Information Science Maribor, Slovenia, and is used by various libraries in the
region. In case you would like to get an online introduction to the B&H libraries
which are in this system as well as their collections, please visit the
virtual library
of B&H
.

One can usually find law libraries or archives as a part
of some courts. These mostly offer case materials and laws, commentaries and
other sources needed to their primary users - legal practitioners.

This article devotes more detailed information to
specialized law libraries such as the Library of the Law Faculty in Sarajevo, which
is the largest law library in the country and the third largest library in the
country, counting all other libraries (e.g. public, university, special, etc.),
and the Library of the Center for Human Rights of University in Sarajevo.

1) The Library of the Law Faculty in Sarajevo was founded
as the integral part of the Law Faculty in 1946.

All collections were saved from wartime destruction.
Thanks to this lucky twist of fate, some very valuable publications were saved
such as some laws enforced during the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy,
and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Even text books from these
periods have been preserved and stored there. The library’s collection counts
about 255,000 units of monograph and periodical publications. In 2006, the
library introduced the previously mentioned system—COBISS—rendering information
on its collection available online.

In 2004, as a part of the Faculty of Law of the University
in Sarajevo, the Library of the Seminar for Legal History was established. The
collection of this library is a gift of Mustafa Imamović, professor emeritus of
the University in Sarajevo. In 2012 another collection was established at the
same Faculty. This collection, named IRZ-Reading room is organized and
supported by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation
(Deutsche Stiftung fur internationale rechtliche Zusammenarbeit – IRZ) with the
main aim to provide support to students of study program in German law (Begleit
Studium Deutches Recht), but it is at disposal to others affiliated to Faculty
as well.

Soon after the war, the Library of the Law Faculty in
Sarajevo did its best to reestablish old national and international contacts
and to establish new ones, mainly regarding interlibrary loan and exchange. The
number of institutions with which Library has this cooperation, mainly
interlibrary exchange, is constantly growing.

2) The
Human Rights Centre of the University of Sarajevo
was founded with the basic idea of contributing to the implementation of
internationally proscribed human rights through advising, information retrieval
on documents and scholarly papers, research and education. Online access to the
catalogue of the Library of the Center for Human Rights is available
here
.
The
Center for Human Rights of the University of Sarajevo
has implemented
numerous research projects addressing human rights, the promotion of their
values, and their conditions both in regional and national terms. One of its very
important projects is
Human Rights Observatory: Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, where one can find reports on Human Rights in B&H.
As it is indicated on the Observatory’s web page it provides information on:
human rights in legal documents, human rights in media, perception of human
rights by citizens of B&H, human rights in practice – selected issues, list
of signed and ratified documents human rights documents and section with
primary data for analysis.

One of the regional associations important to legal
librarians is
South East European Association of Law and related
Libraries (SEALL)
formally established in 2008. It members are
coming from B&H, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia. Shortly, as other professional organizations,
members of SEALL share their knowledge and resources and provide professional
support. Conference and Regional Law Libraries Round Table is annually
organized and held in Neum (B&H).

Although not meant for legal
librarians only, some conferences due to their international aspect and fact
that they have been regularly held should be mentioned: International
Conference of Slavic Librarians (ICSL) and Conferences of the Association of
Information Professionals – Librarians, Archivists and Museologists. These
associations and conferences are important since there is neither association
of librarians of B&H anymore nor association of legal librarians of
B&H.

6.
Publishers in B&H

There are no large legal
publishers in B&H. Legal publications or publications whose main subject is
law are mainly published by law faculties and other related faculties,
governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, professional
associations, commercial publishers, or even authors alone. There are some
specialized legal book stores, which provide the local and international public
with legal publications. The B&H publishing scene is constantly changing
and it is difficult to detect which publishers are active on the book market.
In order to find out, for the purpose of this article, which publishers in the
field of law have been active in the past two years, some results—though not
absolutely reliable—can be presented. One has to have in mind that non-governmental
organizations and foundations usually publish project materials and the results
from projects which they implemented, legal guidelines, analytical reports etc.,
while governmental institutions are more focused on laws, their compilations
and commentaries, rules regarding their work, bulletins etc. Faculties and
research institutions are more active in the field of text books, monographs, and
edited books. Almost every faculty has its own journal or collection of papers
published regularly (e. g. Godišnjak Pravnog fakulteta u Sarajevu,
Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Zenici
,
Godišnjak Pravnog fakulteta Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci
,
Zbo
rnik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Bihaću, Zbornik
radova Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Mostaru).

Beside faculties, it
is worth mentioning that some legal journals available in full text and
published by foundations also drive attention of legal researchers, such as
Nova pravna revija
(published by IRZ,
German-B&H Association of Lawyers and Association for Research and
Reception of German law) and
Sveske za javno pravo
(published by
Foundation Public Law Centre). Professional associations also organize round
tables and conferences and publish journals regularly (e. g. Pravo i pravda:
časopis za pravnu teoriju i praksu published by
Association of Judges of Federation of B&H
,
Pravna riječ published by
Association of Lawyers of Republika Srpska
).

Comparing results from
past years it is evident that this year private universities intensified their
publishing activities.

7. Conclusion

This article represents an attempt to briefly sketch the main
points of the legal information system found in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although
the country has experienced a difficult recent history, many things related to
information systems in general are improving, but fact that some important
initiatives regarding building up integral legal information sources were
discontinued, raises some worries. Dispersion of legal information additionally
complicates efforts of legal practitioners, academicians and others. On the
other hand some positive things remained. Just a few years ago, extreme effort
was needed just to locate reliable sources which might contain the information one
might need; today, this is much easier thanks to the many tools which have been
recovered and applied in recent years, such as cooperative cataloging and
indexing systems, sources available online, etc. However, based on experience
of working with legal researchers, legal practitioners and students and having
in mind their needs, one could point out at least two main resources that are
urgently needed:

1)
Online, free of charge,
comprehensive database of laws, legal materials and case law of B&H

There is no much need to elaborate
how useful it is to have “one stop” as a source of primary information. Many
countries in the region built these kind of sources and put at the disposal
their laws and regulations online, free of charge to wider public. It is important
to bear in mind that use of these sources goes beyond legal profession; it
meets needs of wider public in general. Past experience shows that this is a
task for public institutions, since otherwise, i. e. efforts of individuals or
groups built up as a part of project activities were not sustainable.

2)
Online, free of charge database of
journals in full text published by public universities and professional
associations / foundations in B&H

One of the very positive regional
trends (i. e. Serbia and Croatia), which regards the needs of academic society
in general, is the building of online available databases of professional and
academic journals. Access to some publications is restricted to bibliographic
or abstract level, but most of them are accessible in full text. They provide
information on download and/or citation as well. The same source is needed in
B&H. It eases tracing and improves the use of domestic academic production;
it promotes and opens it beyond state borders. On the other side, statistics
and surveys done by national and international agencies usually presented in
B&H media show that population of B&H faces with huge rates of
unemployment and poverty. Subscription fees to the most relevant commercial
academic databases often exceed annual budgets for the public libraries and
libraries of public institutions and in past two years we witnessed many cuts
in this regard. So, from the economic point as well it is not easy, especially
for students, to fulfill their academic needs and source of this kind would be
more than helpful.

One would argue that experience in
many other fields shows that building anything integral in B&H, due to the
political situation, constant disputes about different issues and complex system
is not possible. But, on the other hand having a clear vision of what is needed,
accompanied with will and professionalism could make everything possible.

[1]
Initially
published
in
December 2005, and updated in 2008 and November/December 2011.

Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School
of Law
40 Washington Square South, New York, New York 10012-1099
Telephone: (212) 998-6691, Facsimile: (212) 995-4656